I first learned about the Love Grace Cleanse at an event at the Affinia 50 Hotel where the cleanse can be purchased as part of a hotel package.

I decided to give the cleanse a try. I was sent enough juices/smoothies for the 3-day cleanse. I couldn’t start the cleanse right away due to a trip. (I figured it would be a good idea to wait because I'd definitely need to detox afterwards.)

Two days before I started the cleanse I got a cold, but I had to do the cleanse right away before the expiration date. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these cleanses (I usually do them on my own using an at-home juicer) but cold pressed juices now have a non-thermal technology that destroys harmful pathogens that can cause spoilage, so it lasts more than the typical 3-day life span.

Each cleanse day includes:

4 16 oz cold-pressed juices

1 16-oz super food smoothie

1 4 oz healing elixir

The Love Grace cleanse starts with the Purify juice (coconut water, Swiss chard, spinach, cucumber and celery). It was palatable, but also had a bit of a nasty aftertaste. After about two hours, I slowly drank the Ginger Bomb Elixir. The first thing I noticed was how quickly my body reacted. Usually my system doesn’t start cleaning out until the following day, but after the Ginger Bomb (orange, ginger, lemon, oregano extract, Himalayan sea salt) and the Longevity Tonic (shilaji (an anti-aging herb), lemon, cayenne, agave, Pink Himalayan sea salt) which I drank another two hours or so later, I felt like I lost a couple of pounds of waste.

The taste of a lot of the juices took some getting used to. (I make my own juices and smoothies that I’ve perfected to suit my personal taste, but these cold-pressed juices apparently are more nutrient dense.)

My favorite of the juices was the Super Cider (organic apple, carrot, ginger and lemon). I wasn’t crazy about the smoothies, especially the Chocolate Superfood, which surprised me. It had a taste that I just couldn’t adapt to. The best one out of the three was the Probiotic Smoothie (banana, flaxseed, almond, dates, vegan probiotic, Himalayan sea salt and coconut oil). The smoothies are very thick and because of them, I wasn’t terribly hungry on this cleanse. I only needed to munch on celery sticks a couple of times. In fact the first two days of the cleanse I didn’t get to the last juice called Restore (organic carrot, beet, celery, cucumber, parsley, spinach, lemon and orange).

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to adequately prepare for the cleanse by easing into it, which would have included weaning myself off the caffeine from my daily coffee. Starting the cleanse with a cold also didn't seem like such an ideal situation, but within a day, the scratchy throat and the cold was gone.

Each morning though, I woke up with a headache. Perhaps I had a lot of toxins in my body, and since I was getting a cold, my body probably needed the cleanse. I also wondered if my body was reacting to the amount of sodium in some of the juices (310 mg in Purify and 281mg in the Longevity Tonic.) The headaches could have come from caffeine withdrawal, although I’ve recently gone without coffee for a couple of days with no reaction.

On the last day of the cleanse, my headache was the worse I've ever had in my life and was accompanied by a strange prickly feeling at the back of my head, so I finally broke down and took something to relieve the discomfort.

I can't honestly say that I felt any different after this cleanse. You really need more than three days to actually notice the effects of a juice cleanse, but one good thing was that I was inspired to continue eating more nutritious foods. I definitely was not craving any junk food. The Love Grace juices and smoothies really are packed with powerhouse ingredients.

I suggest reading the information about starting a cleanse that can be found on the Love Grace website and that you start drinking the juices and smoothies while they are at their optimum freshness.

I’ve noticed that the juices are available at a grocery store near my neighborhood (Associated). The Ginger Bomb Elixir and Longevity Tonic are quite potent, so if I need a quick cleaning out of the system, I’ll use them on their own.

The 3-day cleanse is $168. You can also purchases the juices/smoothies separately. The 16 oz juices and smoothies are $9.80 each and the Ginger Bomb Elixir is $7. You can also order the juices from Fresh Direct and find the other places where they are sold by visiting lovegracefoods.com.

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Gerrie Summers has been a professional writer for more than 32 years. For 17 of those years, she worked as the beauty editor and new products columnist for a national lifestyle publication. In her role as guinea pig Gerrie has tested and reviewed hundreds of products--and is still alive and well. Contact her at productsexaminer@gmail.com.